According to data from the Report Fraud service operated by the City of London Police, losses stemming from compromised email and social media accounts reached £6.3m during the 2025-26 financial year, representing a significant increase from £1.2m in the prior financial year.
Criminals utilizing hijacked accounts employ various tactics to defraud victims and their networks. A common scheme involves impersonating the account owner to advertise counterfeit tickets for highly sought-after events, such as concerts. Another prevalent method includes fraudulent communications through WhatsApp and text messaging where perpetrators pose as family members claiming to face emergency situations requiring immediate financial assistance. Research from Santander indicates that individuals posing as sons have proved most effective at obtaining money through these schemes, with daughters being the second most successful impersonation category.
The actual financial impact likely exceeds official figures, as many victims do not report incidents to authorities. Reporting barriers include embarrassment about falling victim to fraud or the perception that individual losses were too small to warrant formal complaints. Accounts detailed by media outlets have illustrated the effectiveness of these schemes, with victims noting that fraudsters replicate communication patterns convincingly enough to deceive even close family and friends.
Ch Supt Amanda Wolf, heading Report Fraud operations, characterized account hijacking as more than a technical security issue, emphasizing its personal dimensions including account lockout, privacy concerns, and risks to victims’ social networks. She noted that compromised accounts frequently serve as launching points for broader fraud targeting multiple individuals within a victim’s contact list.
In response to the growing threat, Report Fraud has initiated a public awareness initiative promoting passkey authentication technology as a preventive measure. Passkeys utilize device-specific factors and biometric verification for account access, offering protection against conventional password-based hacking methods.
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